The vagina is a relatively long hollow, tube like structure that extends from the cervix at the outer end of the uterus down to the labia minora. The interior of the vagina is composed of a mucous membrane and an outer, smooth muscle closely attached to it. While glands are present in the vaginal lining itself, vaginal secretions can arise from the glands in the cervical canal of the uterus such as Bartholin's and Skene's glands. Normally such secretions are clean, but occasionally debris in the form of blood or deposition of seminal fluid can accumulate. Accordingly, it is desirable at times to be able to have a convenient disposable applicator to clean and refresh the vaginal canal to add to or treat the vaginal canal with medications, germicides, or deodorants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,058 by Demetrakopoulos cleanses the vagina by providing an apparatus that delivers lather to the vaginal canal. Vaginal cleaning devices have been addressed in the prior art in terms of a swabbing applicator, as may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,463 to Vail. Also, other vaginal cleaning devices that have been addressed in the prior art include a syringe apparatus as may be seen in U.S. Patent No. 4,772,274 to Lukacs and U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,240 to Yang. U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,914 to Van Iten is an encapsulated tampon with applicator using a similar means of insertion into the vaginal canal. However, these devices do not satisfactorily consider all issues of size, convenience, portability, simplicity of construction, and effectiveness that are addressed herein.